Introduction to the Special Issue on Plural Policing in the Global South

The articles in this Special Issue explore case studies from Global South contexts to show how plural policing is negotiated and navigated. They highlight variances in law-and-order maintenance arrangements, primarily in contexts where state policing is recognized as an adapted colonial import that exists alongside local and indigenous governance mechanisms, which at times exist in parallel or in conflict with each other. Collectively, the articles explore issues of globalization, legitimacy, hybridity, plurality, security privatization, and non-conformity with colonial ideas about policing in former colonies. Each article provides insight into scholarly acknowledgement of an ideological shift away from the recognition of state police serving as the sole stakeholder organization with a responsibility for maintaining law, order, and peaceful communities across diverse spaces in the Global South context. They further highlight the importance of understanding plural policing mechanisms in larger discussions about security governance in the Global South.